How ALEC, David Koch, and anti-union sentiment found its way to Florida's Legislature

Investigative reporter Beau Hodai reports in the latest issue of In These Times, that the trio of bills sponsored by Rep. Chris Dorworth and his Tallahassee roommates, Reps. Scott Plakon and Jason Brodeur, was just as it was rumored to be: a product of the ALEC-legislative model machine.

Hodai used Florida's public records law to get Dorworth to turnover documents that show the origins of the anti-union legislation and ALEC's history with such efforts. The union dues bill passed the House but it's sponsor, Sen. John Thrasher, couldn't get the votes to move it out of committee, despite a personal appeal by Gov. Rick Scott. The other two bills died in committee in both chambers.

Hodai is a freelance journalist and publisher of D.B.A. Press, has previously done impressive work uncovering documents relating to the complicated links and legislative ties to the private Blackwater prison in North Florida. The article was published in In These Times, a left-leaning magazine published published by the Institute for Public Affairs in Chicago.

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